The Love, Life, Lies, and Secrets of Angelina Cortex
by emberwing16
Summary: <html><head></head>Angela is your typical 20-year-old living in The Big Apple. But Angela has a secret: She is the deadly assassin known simply as the "Shifting Shadow". What happens when she SHIELD recruits her to aid them in a certain situation? Will she survive all of the secrets and lies that come to light?</html>
1. Chapter 1

p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Name: Angela Cortex/p  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Gender: Femalep  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Current Age: 20p  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Looks: 5'11"; light brown hair w blonde highlights, usually wears it down; ocean blue eyes w/ green around the pupils; freckles; generally pretty face./p  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Personality: Highly intelligent; fiercely loyal to friends, family, lovers, co-workers, etc.; can be bubbly at times; able to stay calm in most situations; can be very violent when angered; is actually troubled, but uses her attitude to hide it.p  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Skills: Intelligence; handy with almost every weapon; very strong; agile; highly trained in martial arts; can charm most people; she projects a very calming aura that could, in theory, calm the Hulk. p  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Status: Technically single, but refuses to date anyone unless she is sure of her boyfriend's deathp 


	2. Origins

Angela's Origin:  
>You could say that Angela had a troubling childhood. At the age of 9 months, her parents were killed and she was sent to an orphanage; separate from her older siblings. At 2 years, she was adopted by Mary and Lenard Cortex, a wealthy couple currently living in up-state New York. There, she was given a childhood most would die for, but she hated it. Her new parents were extremely paranoid, since their born child had died at 6 months and they didn't want just anyone to watch the new child. The Cortexes didn't trust nannies, as they thought that they would steal their money and skip town. Instead, they wanted her to go to a daycare, which was an even worse decision. The only place in town that would take a child that young was the local Karate school(I know that this sounds really bad and farfetched, but just go with it). So, at age 1, Angela had learned to walk and was sent to 'Clyde's School of Karate'.<br>There, Angela grew and developed a large sense of nobility and justice. She would automatically jump in front to take the beating for another child, but, because of her training, she would always take the bully down, not the other way around. Also while at the academy, she met her lifelong friend, Lily Angelalla, who, though the same age, had started at age 6. They were inseparable. Lily came from an average family, so becoming friends with Angela was a big deal. The Cortexes helped Lily's family through many hardships. They stayed friends until 6th grade, where Angela's parents decided to move to a small town just north of Boston. This was a major turning event in Angela's life.  
>Now, Angela had always knew that she was adopted, as her new parents were constantly reminding her. Whenever she messed up, they were on her and always would say that the reason for her failing was because that she was someone else's child. When she did well, they payed her no attention. When they decided to move, with her protesting, she realized that they didn't care about her well being, they only cared about her abilities. She had lot's.<br>Not only was Angela intelligent, she was also athletic and had an amazing voice. She was highly saught after by many schools and her parents chose the best. It was at the Private Regional Junior and High school where she completed grade school. It was here that she met her boyfriend, Alexander Porae. From day one, he had been hitting on her and she hated him at first, but then again, Angela had few friends in those years. It wasn't until they were Sophomores that she realized that she was in love with him. It was then that they became serious and stopped looking at other people. Alex was a week away from turning 18 when they graduated and Angela graduated at the young age of 16. They were both happy and had bright futures.  
>During that summer, Alex made a startling announcement; he was going to apply to become a soldier. Angela begged him not to go, but his mind could not be changed. The day that he left, he gave her a charm for the necklace that Angela had always wore. It was a key. Alex had said, "This is the key to my heart. As long as you have it, I will never look at another girl." She had slid it on to her necklace where it took its place along with the clear crystal and the dragon charm that she'd had for forever. They said goodbye that day, and Angela always thought back to that moment.<br>3 months later, they got the call that Alex was MIA. Angela refused to believe that he was dead along with his loving mother. Wanting to escape the place that had given her so much heartache, Angela called up her best friend Lily, and they agreed to go live together in NYC. Angela got a job as a reporter and Lily got a job as a secretary in Stark Tower.  
>They had been living at their apartment for a year and a half when tradgety struck; Lily had been hit by a car and was seriously injured. In order to pay the hospital bill, Angela had to work triple the time, but even that wasn't enough. Now she looked for other ways. She had a specific skill set and was willing to use it if it meant saving her friend. She took the first job that came to her and soon was the talk of the New York underworld. The press gave her the name the "Shifting Shadow" for that is all that was ever seen of her. She even made a signature around the sight of each kill. Angela was a very moral person, but, if it meant saving the life of what seemed to be her only friend, she would do it .<br>Angela had tried several times to get out of the business, but people always managed to find her again and she would be forced to take the job. This is where we find her; four years after Alex's disappearance and Angela's underworld life in full swing. This is where the real story begins.


	3. Prolouge

p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Nick Fury and Clint Barton walked into the room. Chairs were turned over, windows were smashed, and, on the wall, a simple letter had been written. Who knew that the single letter could inspire so much fear. It was a very ornate S; three feet tall, one foot wide, and written in ink, it must have taken at least an hour to create, if not more. Barton broke the silence. "So, it's official now. The Shifter is behind this?"br /"Yes," answered Fury, "But something doesn't add up. The guards say that there wasn't a disturbance until a hour ago, yet the signature has been here at least an one-and-a-half hours."br /"Maybe the assassin was here long before that and chose to alert the guards after their work was done?"br /"No, the guy who was watching the cameras said that he saw a shadow in the hallway outside the victim's office. Then the cameras went all weird for a second or two and everything was normal. It stayed that way until the explosion."br /"Speaking of which, has the body been removed?"br /"Yes, the public has been kept away for the time being."br /"Good. What do you think happened?" Fury looked around at the ruined office. The door was still locked despite being blown off it's hinges, therefore they hadn't entered that way. The air duct cover hadn't been removed recently, so the assassin hadn't come through there. He now looked to the windows. All of them had been shattered by the force of the explosion. Something caught Fury's eye; one of the windows was open. It had to have been opened before the explosion. "There," Nick said, pointing at the window, "that's where they entered."br /"Good eye Director, he-he, good eye," replied Barton with his usual /"This is no time for your jokes Agent. We need to figure out how she got in without triggering the alarms."br /"The cameras acting weird, they probably were able to hack the system and disable the alarms from the inside. That was the assassin sneaking in to hack the systems so they could climb in through the window without being detected."br /"Yes Barton, that's what I was thinking too. Though, about the explosion. There are signs of a burst gas line."br /"Yeah, I saw that too. Maybe they shot it to cover their tracks?"br /"No, not her style. Probably a stray bullet. Maybe she had the victim unconscious so she could leave her signature and planned to kill him after. He might have woken up and tried to fight back."br /"Wait, she? What makes you think our assassin is a girl?"br /"I've experience in the matter." Barton laughed nervously and looked at the ground, obviously thinking of Natasha. "Have they found signs of trauma?" continued /"No, he's too badly burned. What do you think went wrong?"br /"I don't know Barton, I don't know. Have you ordered the police to stand down?"br /"Yes, can they come in now?" Fury nodded. Barton pulled out his walkie-talkie to let them /"Oh, and Barton?"br /"Yes sir?"br /"Tell them to look for forced entry on the ground floor." Now Barton nodded./p  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Back on the heli-carrier a day later:p  
>p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Fury paced the briefing room while turning over the evidence in his head. Finally, Special Agents Barton and Romanoff came in. "Sorry we're late Director," apologized Natasha, "Clint was telling me about the crime scene."br "It's fine," replied Fury, "Now I have a mission for you."br /"What kind off mission?" asked /"Lately," Fury began, "The city of New York has been struck with an abnormal amount of assassinations. Most of which have been done by who the press has named "The Shifting Shadow". The only clue we have are the short clips from security cameras that caught the shadow of our assassin on tape. Now watch this." He showed them the clip from just last night as well as some of the more recent ones. br /"We have narrowed down the suspect to be a woman and a young one too. I want you to investigate. Use any means necessary to find her and bring her to justice. I don't care if you have to question every thug, common criminal, or mercenary in this city in order to find this assassin. Is that clear?"br /"Yes sir," both agents /"Good, now get to work." They now stood and left. Fury put his clenched fists down on the table and looked down. This assassin had to be brought in now. It might not be too late to convince her to stop this madness and save her from a terrible fate./p 


End file.
